A Kind of Magic (33 page)

She was so intent on trying to free herself that it took her a second or two to notice the runaway shopping cart flying down the path. Mrs. Smith stood on the edge of the lower rack, leaning over the front seat, and the rest of the cart must have been weighted down pretty heavily because it coasted forward, building up speed, without tipping over. As she rode the cart toward them, Mrs. Smith sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in a hearty contralto.

At the same time, a shrill whistle sounded behind Sophie, and a voice she recognized as Michael’s bellowed, “NYPD, stop right there!” Sophie was able to move enough to smile while her hopes soared.

It took Josephine a split second longer to notice, and then she reacted instinctively to the shopping cart bearing down on them by jumping out of the way, off the path and onto bare ground, pulling Sophie with her. She immediately turned to look for the commotion behind them, and that was all the distraction Sophie needed.

The instant her feet touched the natural ground, she summoned a gateway, then she fell against Josephine, carrying both of them through it. They landed in a heap together inside the Realm, and Sophie instantly rolled away from her captor, simultaneously throwing up a magical shield to keep Josephine from imposing her will upon her again.

She’d expected Josephine to lash out in rage at having the tables turned on her and being abducted by her abductee. Instead, her eyes went wide, and then a smile slowly spread across her face as she glanced around, drinking in every detail of her surroundings. Even more surprising to Sophie, tears began trickling down her cheeks, and her smile made it clear that they were tears of joy.

That wasn’t the outcome Sophie had expected. Bringing Josephine into the Realm was supposed to startle her by removing her from her comfort zone, but Sophie was getting the feeling that this was something Josephine had wanted desperately. Had she played right into her enemy’s hands somehow?

Josephine raised her arms over her head and cried out in a voice that was not only physically loud, but that also radiated magic in a way Sophie was sure would carry. She knew her ears weren’t hearing this sound, that it went straight to whatever magical senses she had, but she nevertheless had a strong urge to put her hands over her ears.

The sound of Josephine’s cry still seemed to be ringing in the air when figures began appearing in the distance, rapidly drawing closer with each step until they surrounded the spot where Sophie and Josephine sat. Josephine stood, and as she did, she changed.

She no longer looked like a Cruella type in late middle age. Now she was tall and willowy, young and beautiful, with flowing red hair.

And she was unmistakably fae.

The Park

Meanwhile

Michael was already running toward Sophie when she and Josephine disappeared. “Sophie, wait!” he called out. Beau barked furiously, like he, too, was calling Sophie back. But they were already gone before he reached them. Mrs. Smith hopped down from her cart and pulled back on it, slowing its progress and bringing it to a stop just in front of him. “She must have taken her to the Realm,” he said, knowing he was stating the obvious, but needing to have what he’d observed verified.

“That should give Sophie an advantage,” Mrs. Smith said.

“Yeah, but it takes her away from her backup.”

“And away from Josephine’s. Speaking of which …”

Michael noticed then that they weren’t alone. They were surrounded by fae, and the only saving grace was that they were even more surprised by Josephine and Sophie’s sudden disappearance than Michael had been. Beau barked a warning, and Michael whirled just in time to fling a handful of iron filings at the fairy coming up behind him. “Back off!” he warned.

He scattered iron around himself, turning back to see Mrs. Smith waving a lit torch to fend off more fairies. The torch ruined Michael’s night vision, so he couldn’t see details of how many fae there were or what they were doing. He reached into his pocket to find his iron nails and slid some between his fingers so the pointed ends stuck out from his fist.

“What did you do to her?” a voice said from the darkness.

Facing the voice, Michael said, “I didn’t do anything. I’d guess Josephine took the wrong captive and found herself in the Realm.”

“She made it to the Realm?” the voice said, sounding excited rather than alarmed.

“Michael Murray!” another voice called. Michael turned to see light glinting on silver. “Where is Sophie?”

“I think she took Josephine into the Realm,” Michael said, squinting toward Eamon. Beau had stopped growling, which made Michael wonder if the other fae had scattered at Eamon’s arrival. “We should go after her.”

“That would do little good.”

“Maybe if we go now we’d get there in time to help.”

“There is no gateway near here, and we couldn’t be sure of coming out in the same place.”

“But Sophie left from right here.”

“Sophie is different. She has the ability to control the Realm and create gateways. I must find existing gateways, and I cannot control where I arrive.”

“Then what do we do?” Michael demanded, trying to fight back a rising panic.

“Emily is supposed to bring the enchantresses to the market. We should meet her there.”

Michael started to protest, but he was distracted when a white streak ran out of the nearby bushes and transformed into the woman dressed in unseasonal white, who stopped right in front of him and clutched his arm. “The traitor has the princess,” she said. “She’s in terrible danger.”

“I know,” Michael said, then realized what she’d said. “Wait, the traitor? Do you mean Josephine? That’s who you’ve been talking about as the traitor?”

“I was exiled with her when she tried to usurp the queen.”

“I thought you couldn’t tell me about her.”

“That was before she took the princess. Now I don’t care what she does to me. I will be a traitor to the queen no more.”

Eamon stepped forward, his eyes flashing angrily. Michael had always seen him as relatively harmless, but now the fairy looked frightening. “You supported the traitor?”

Her clutch on Michael’s arm tightened, but she didn’t flinch away from Eamon. “I did. Once. And I was exiled for my crime. It changed me. I had to change so I could live in this world. But I no longer believe in her cause. I want to help the princess.”

“So this means Sophie took an exiled would-be queen into the Realm?” Michael said as his heart sank. “She took her right where she wanted to go.” Suddenly he realized what it was he’d noticed about Josephine’s aura the night of the ballet. “And I should have seen it. I did see it. Her aura was fae. Sort of. It was different, but now that I think about it, it was there. How could I have missed it?”

“Was it a regular fae aura?” Mrs. Smith asked. She’d blown out her torch, which made it easier for Michael to see as his eyes readjusted.

“No, not really.”

“Then stop kicking yourself, son. I’m not sure what you think you should have done about it. She’s fae in some weird kind of way we haven’t seen before.”

“I didn’t see it, and I was there when she made her last bid for power,” Eamon said. “Her human glamour is very good, unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

That didn’t make Michael feel much better. He turned to the cat woman. “But if all her supporters were exiled, how does she have conspirators in the Realm?”

“I have not been in the Realm since I was cast out, so I don’t know what has happened there,” the cat woman said. “They have been trying to bring me back into the traitor’s company. I won’t. I know I was wrong.”

 “How many of the fae do you think will support a traitor?” Mrs. Smith asked Michael.

“I don’t know. Loyalty doesn’t seem to a big consideration there. Look how many times someone’s tried to take that throne in just the past few months. Sophie seems to be the only person who
doesn’t
want it. Someone always seems to be after it, and there’s a good chance that there are a lot of fae who aren’t happy about having a human queen.”

“This Josephine woman can’t be full fae anymore if she’s passed so well as a human.”

“But if she was exiled while Sophie’s ancestor was on the throne, she can’t have become mortal. That’s been centuries. How did you survive?” he asked the cat woman.

“My exile was not as harsh as hers. I may enter the markets, and I may enter the Borderlands but not the Realm itself. That has been enough to sustain me. When I change form, I am like any other cat in your world.”

“How did Josephine manage? She’s done too many things that the fae shouldn’t have been able to do. That’s how Sophie figured out that her attempts to stir up a fae versus enchantress war were bogus.”

“Your princess can also handle iron,” Mrs. Smith pointed out.

“But she’s mortal. She’s not going to live for centuries unless she moves into the Realm for good. That’s the issue here. Apparently, there are a lot of fae who don’t accept a mortal—or formerly mortal—ruler.”

“They may not accept what Josephine is, once they see what she’s become.” She chuckled in that way she had that was almost a bark. “But I guess you don’t have to worry about her taking over the enchantresses anymore, do you?”

“I don’t care about that right now. I’m more worried about what she’ll do to Sophie, and I don’t think it’ll be good for us if she gets the throne.” He started walking, not because he had a destination in mind, but because he felt like he should be doing something. “Where’s this market where we can meet up with Emily?”

Belvedere Castle

11:58 p.m.

Emily had to give it to the enchantresses—when they went in on something, they went all in. A few of Josephine’s cronies from other regional circles were still in town, and the sisters had somehow convinced all of them to show up in Central Park in the middle of the night when it was freezing. They looked rather bewildered, and Emily hoped that the information about the market’s location was accurate, or they were going to have a lot of explaining to do.

She edged over to Amelia. “There are plenty of fairies around here, but I don’t see Sophie. What if Josephine didn’t bring her here?”

“We’ll find out soon enough when the market opens,” Amelia said. She radiated calm, but Emily still detected tension in her posture.

A loud bark nearby got her attention, and she turned to see Eamon and Michael running toward her, Beau at Michael’s heels. Mrs. Smith came up behind them, pushing her shopping cart, on which a white cat perched in the child seat. Emily didn’t get a chance to ask what was going on before Michael blurted, “Josephine’s a fairy.”

“She’s what?” Emily said. The enchantresses were too stunned to even speak.

They didn’t get a chance to recover before the market appeared, stunning them even more as the terrace was suddenly filled with bright light and colorful booths. The climate changed, as well, warming to a comfortable crispness in the air, just cool enough to be pleasant.

Even as the enchantresses gaped at the sight, Michael continued, seemingly not even noticing the market. “And Sophie took Josephine into the Realm. I don’t think she knew what she was, but Josephine seems to have been exiled after trying to take the throne ages ago. Come on, we need to go after her.”

“She won’t be here?” Amelia asked.

“Not unless she comes back on her own. But we should go now.” Emily wasn’t sure she’d ever heard him sound this frantic.

“The queen is expecting us,” Eamon added.

The enchantresses were still staring at the market. “This goes on all the time here?” one of them said to Athena, her tone vague and her eyes dazed.

Athena patted her gently on the shoulder. “It goes on all the time everywhere. You just need to develop some contacts to find the days and locations.”

Another enchantress frowned. “A gathering of fae in our world is something we should have known about.”

“Somehow, I suspect Josephine was heavily editing the information she gave you,” Amelia said. “And now that you’ve seen a fairy market, are you prepared to enter the Realm?”

“I will not bring enchantresses into the Realm,” Eamon said.

“You’ve done it before,” Amelia replied. “To rescue Sophie, even before she was queen. Now I expect we’ll need all the help we can get, since we aren’t entirely sure what this woman is or what she’s made of herself.”

“She has a point,” Michael said, “and why are we still standing here arguing about this stuff? Let’s go.”

Emily approached Eamon and put her arm around him. He stiffened slightly, and she had to wonder if that had anything to do with him finding her with Charles. “Please, it’s my sister,” she said, giving him her best beseeching eyes. “I would owe you a favor.”

“Do not make that promise lightly,” he said.

“Why do people keep warning me about taking this stuff lightly? This is serious. My sister’s probably in danger, my grandmother’s throne is at stake, and we don’t know what Josephine has become or how many fae she’s got working for her. We’re going to need help, and a variety of it.”

He stared at her for a long time before pulling away to stride toward the area where the band played. The music trailed off as he clapped his hands for attention. “I hate to interrupt your market so soon after it has begun, but the queen needs all her true subjects to come to her aid. You may remember a time when a usurper tried to seek the crown in the days of the old queen. That usurper has returned to the Realm and threatens our crowned queen. Who among you will support your ruler, for the good of the Realm?”

That was actually quite a speech for Eamon, who was considered something of a nerd among fairies, and Emily found herself applauding and cheering along with most of the others. She stepped forward, ready to take Eamon’s hand so he could lead her through a gateway, but the world suddenly shifted around her. When she blinked, she was still standing in the market, but it was no longer at Belvedere Castle. It was on the terrace in front of the queen’s palace in the Realm.